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An art gallery features large, vibrant, multi-layered collage artworks displayed on blue and white walls.

Mickalene Thomas: All About Love

11 February – 5 May 2025

Mickalene Thomas’ vibrant, large-scale portraits of Black women at rest reclaim space and representation in art history, celebrating love and radical repose.

Thomas’ celebratory and glamorous portraits put Black women front and centre. Their poses are restful, but filled with power, meeting our gaze and staring right back with regal force.

Her alluring, self-assured muses are made up of her circle of friends, family, lovers and models, with her love and care for each of them reflected in the vivid patterns and brilliant rhinestones of the artworks.

Featuring paintings, photographs, collages and installations from two decades of Thomas’ career, All About Love took us into the artist’s world of quiet rebellion and fierce love for her community.

‘A body-slam of a show’

The Guardian

Exhibition gallery

A woman staring at a large collage with a black woman wearing a black suit laughing in the centre
Installation view of Mickalene Thomas: All About Love. Mama Bush: (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me), Higher and Higher, (2009). Photo: Mark Blower. Courtesy the artist and the Hayward Gallery.
View larger image 1 of 5. A woman staring at a large collage with a black woman wearing a black suit laughing in the centre
Three people relaxing on red bean bags, staring at large collages on a wood panelled walls
Installation view of Mickalene Thomas: All About Love. Photo: Mark Blower. Courtesy the artist and the Hayward Gallery.
View larger image 2 of 5. Three people relaxing on red bean bags, staring at large collages on a wood panelled walls
A collage of intricate black, white, and gold patterned designs with a reclining nude Black woman
Installation view of Mickalene Thomas: All About Love. A Little Taste Outside of Love, (2007). Photo: Mark Blower. Courtesy the artist and the Hayward Gallery.
View larger image 3 of 5. A collage of intricate black, white, and gold patterned designs with a reclining nude Black woman
A wall covered in different collages with a a collection shrubs on the floor
Installation view of Mickalene Thomas: All About Love. Photo: Mark Blower. Courtesy the artist and the Hayward Gallery.
View larger image 4 of 5. A wall covered in different collages with a a collection shrubs on the floor
An artistic portrait of a woman in vibrant clothing, displayed in a gallery setting with colorful patterns in the background.
Installation view of Mickalene Thomas: All About Love. Din avec la main dans le miroir et jupe rouge, (2023). Photo: Mark Blower. Courtesy the artist and the Hayward Gallery.
View larger image 5 of 5. An artistic portrait of a woman in vibrant clothing, displayed in a gallery setting with colorful patterns in the background.

Articles & videos

Tour Mickalene Thomas: All About Love with Lea Ogunlami and Ione Gamble
Three people relaxing on red bean bags, staring at large collages on a wood panelled walls
Video

Tour Mickalene Thomas: All About Love with Lea Ogunlami and Ione Gamble

Take an intimate tour of this 2025 Hayward Gallery exhibition in the company of the presenter and the editor-in-chief of Polyester zine.

5 things to know about Mickalene Thomas: All About Love
A woman staring at a large collage with a black woman wearing a black suit laughing in the centre
Article

5 things to know about Mickalene Thomas: All About Love

Read a perfect primer for the work and practices of celebrated artist and pioneering portraitist Mickalene Thomas.

Credits & partners

Mickalene Thomas: All About Love was co-organised with The Broad, Los Angeles, and Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, and in partnership with the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia.

The exhibition was generously supported by George Wells; Malek and Maria Sukkar; Galerie Nathalie Obadia Paris/Brussels; Yancey Richardson Gallery; Lehmann Maupin; and Michele and Beth Colocci. Additional support was  provided by Maryam Eisler; Carol Server & Oliver Frankel; Rault Kehlor & John Millar; and Harry G. David.